Summer arts preview: It's a season full of hot tickets

Wednesday

May 9, 2018 at 11:00 AM

Dana Barbuto The Patriot Ledger

A staggering amount of entertainment choices abound between Memorial Day and Labor Day. There’s outdoor Shakespeare on the Boston Common, the revival of summer stock in Plymouth, blockbusters on the silver screen, star power slated for stages in the Berkshires and an insane-good concert lineup at Fenway Park. We’ve carefully combed the lineup over the next three months and have curated a list we think is worthy of peeling yourself off the beach.

A GLAM CAPER

“Avengers: Infinity War” is just the beginning. Summer at the cinema means superheroes, sequels and spectacle. And while we love those movies, it’s “Ocean’s 8,” the all-female version of Steven Soderbergh heist films that’s got us fired up. This one is stacked with Oscar-winners and girl power. Danny Ocean’s ex-con sister, Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock), attempts to pull off the theft of the century at New York City’s star-studded annual Met Gala – swiping a priceless necklace off a celebrity’s neck. Her first stop is to assemble the perfect crew: Lou (Cate Blancett); Nine Ball (Rihanna); Amita (Mindy Kaling); Constance (Awkwafina); Rose (Helena Bonham Carter); Daphne Kluger (Anne Hathaway); and Tammy (Sarah Paulson). Gary Ross (“The Hunger Games,” “Seabiscuit”) directs. Fittingly, “Ocean’s 8” opens June 8.

BARD’S TOWN

Methinks summer is the time for free, open-air Shakespeare. The Commonwealth Shakespeare Company is best known for its annual free production on Boston Common, the scene for this season’s production of “Richard III,” a play about putting down a tyrant. How timely. Get thee to performances that run July 17 to Aug. 5 at Parkman Bandstand, Boston Common. Steven Maler directs. For more information, call 617-426-0863, or log onto www.commshakes.org.

PEARL JAM RETURNS

Fenway Park is in full swing this summer with a lineup of big-name concerts (Zac Brown Band, James Taylor, Billy Joel, Jimmy Buffett, Foo Fighters, Luke Bryan, Journey and Def Leppard), but the best band is saved for last. Pearl Jam closes the season with a pair of concerts Sept. 2 and 4. Also, Eddie Vedder and his mates say a new album, the band’s first in five years, is coming soon. See you at the ballpark.

AN EYEFUL AND AN EARFUL

What better way to show off a shiny, new makeover than with a splashy, tragic romance set to music? Boston’s restored Emerson Colonial Theater officially re-opens June 27 with the pre-Broadway world premiere of “Moulin Rouge! The Musical,” an adaptation of the 2001 Baz Luhrmann movie. The musical tells the story of a doomed love between a writer (Aaron Tweit, “Catch Me If You Can”) and a dancer (Karen Olivo, Tony Award for “West Side Story”). Performances run through Aug. 5. Tickets start at $55 and are available by calling 888-616-0272, or at EmersonColonialTheatre.com.

CAN’T STOP THE DANCING

The talented dancers from the Houston Ballet are the epitome of grace, perseverance and dedication. Hurricane Harvey devastated Houston last August, causing $125 billion in damages, including the company’s practice and performance space, plus more than half of its costumes. The troupe was forced to shorten its season and perform in various venues. This summer, the ballet hits the road, making its first visit since 1979 to Jacob’s Pillow – America’s longest running dance festival in Becket. The company will perform a mixed-rep program in August. Artistic director Stanton Welch will create a work for the occasion, set to an original score by David Lang. By the way, the company is on track to have its entire 2018-19 season back on its regular stage at Houston’s Wortham Center. The Houston Ballet performs Aug. 15-18 at Ted Shawn Theater, 358 George Carter Road, Becket. Tickets cost $45, $65, $78. Call 413-243-9919, or visit jacobspillow.og.

A ‘HAMILTON’ WARM UP

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s blockbuster “Hamilton” is already the crown jewel of the 2018 fall arts season. But before the national tour arrives, let “Hamilton” alums and Tony-winners Leslie Odom Jr. and Daveed Diggs get you primed. Odom, who played Aaron Burr, is back by popular demand, rejoining the Boston Pops June 12-14 at Symphony Hall. Tickets start at $36. Call 617-266-1200, or go to bostonpops.org for more information. Diggs, who played both Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson in “Hamilton,” hits the big screen in the film “Blindspotting.” The movie, which he co-wrote, produced and stars, is a comedy-drama about gentrification and police brutality in Oakland. And, yes, Diggs raps. “Blindspotting” opens July 27.

SUMMER STOCK IN PLYMOUTH

Priscilla Beach Theatre was a training ground for actors like Paul Newman, Albert Brooks and Rob Reiner. So who knows who might break out this year in the musical farce “The Drowsy Chaperone” (June 8-16). Or, in its productions of the hilarious musical comedy “Guys and Dolls,” July 5-21; the rock-star musical “Bye Bye Birdie,” Aug.2-18; and the baseball musical “Damn Yankees,” Sept. 2-16. The theater is at 800 Rocky Hill Road in Manomet. Call 508-224-4888, or visit pbtheatre.org.

A TIMELESS TALE IN NORWELL

Norwell’s Company Theater is always game for an ambitious production like the musical “Ragtime.” A show of enormous sweep and power, “Ragtime” takes on nothing less than the melting pot of American society at the turn of the 20th century. See the performance July 27-Aug. 19 at the Company Theater, 30 Accord Park Drive, Norwell. Call 781-871-2787, or visit www.companytheatre.com.

TRIBUTE TO BERNSTEIN

Tanglewood, the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer home, is paying tribute to America’s most celebrated maestro by dedicating its 2018 season to Leonard Bernstein. The Massachusetts-born conductor and composer would have turned 100 on Aug. 25. Bernstein was a fixture at the annual summer music festival for half a century. He died in 1990 at age 72. Among the highlights, David Newman leads the orchestra in a live accompaniment of a screening of Bernstein’s “West Side Story” at 8 p.m. July 28. Later, on Aug. 25, there will be a Gala Concert featuring multiple performers from the worlds of classical music, film and Broadway. It begins at 8 p.m. Call 888-266-1200, or visit tanglewood.org

SHOWSTOPPING STAGE MAGIC

It’ll be a night of song and spectacle when the classic fairy tale “Aladdin” settles in for a five-week summer run. We’re looking forward to seeing Jasmine and Aladdin and the wisecracking Genie as they discover mystical caves, take magic carpet rides, and outwit the evil sorcerer Jafar at at the Opera House. “Aladdin” is brought to town by Broadway in Boston and features the iconic songs such as "Friend Like Me," "A Whole New World" and "Prince Ali." At the Opera house July 5-Aug. 5. See the whole summer lineup of Broadway in Boston musicals that also includes “Motown the Musical” (June 12-17) and “The Book of Mormon” (Aug. 14-26) before “Hamilton rolls into town (Sept. 18-Nov. 18) at https://boston.broadway.com

MORE THAN A LOVER

In its main summer exhibition, “Casanova’s Europe,” the Museum of Fine Arts shows Casanova as more than just a lover. Subtitled “Art, Pleasure and Power in the 18th Century,” the exhibition combines more than 275 paintings, sculptures, writings, furniture, costumes and musical instruments. The exhibit shows Casanova as a scholar who mingled with Voltaire and Benjamin Franklin, and whose writings provided a detailed chronicle of European high society in the late 18th century. Among the masterpieces on view are a series of paintings by François Boucher, reunited here for the first time in decades, and Tiepolo’s The Charlatan (1756). The exhibit opens July 8 and runs through Oct. 8. The museum is at 465 Huntington Ave., Boston. Call 617-267-9300, or visit www.mfa.org.

BERKSHIRE BOUND

The most star-laden stage offering is the Williamstown Theater Festival, where year after year well-known performers hone their acting talents. This year’s lineup includes Ferris Bueller himself, Matthew Broderick, in a world premiere of “The Closet,” June 26-July 14. “Weeds” actress Mary Louise Parker heads another world-premiere, “The Sound Inside,” by Pulitzer finalist Adam Rapp, June 27-July 8. Samira Wiley from “The Handmaid’s Tale” hits the stage in “Dangerous House” June 27-July 8. For more information, go to www.wtfestival.org.

RARE PAINTINGS

The Museum of Fine Arts will display 40 seldom-shown masterworks from its holdings as part of the exhibit “French Pastels: Treasures from the Vault.” Among the gems are paintings by Mary Cassatt, Edgar Degas, Edouard Manet, Jean-François Millet, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Odilon Redon, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. It runs June 30 to Jan. 6, 2019, at the MFA, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston. Call 617-267-9300, or visit www.mfa.org.

THE PHIL ON THE FOURTH

On the Fourth of July, Boston has the Pops and the South Shore has the Phil, aka the Plymouth Philharmonic. Director Steven Karidoyanes conducts his musicians at the free annual Independence Day celebration on the Plymouth waterfront. The program also includes Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture,” a reading of excerpts from the Declaration of Independence and a patriotic sing-along. For more information, call 508-746-8008 or visit plymouthphil.org.

CALLING ALL MUSIC FANS

Boston Calling is hitting it out of the Harvard Athletic Complex in Allston with Eminem (May 27), Jack White (May 26) and The Killers (May 25) headlining the music festival May 25-27. And actress Natalie Portman curates and hosts the Boston Calling Film Festival May 22-24 at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge. The films she has chosen explore the theme of “The Female Gaze” from the perspectives of male and female directors. Sounds like there will be more food at the concert venue this year, too, with 150 menu items, celebrity chefs and “gourmet” vendors. Here’s hoping organizers have worked out some of the kinks to make it a smoother, more enjoyable experience for everybody this time around. http://bostoncalling.com/

HAVE THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE

Thirty years after we first spent a summer with Baby and Johnny at a family resort in the Catskills, “Dirty Dancing - the Classic Story on Stage” is still entertaining audiences with their love story. June 13-17, at the Boch Center Shubert Theatre, step back into 1963 when racy dance tunes and wearing blue jeans were taboo. Leading a company of 24 are Aaron Patrick Craven as Johnny Castle and Kaleigh Courts as Francis “Baby” Houseman. http://www.bochcenter.org/

ACOUSTIC AND INTIMATE

Pat Benatar will hit us with her best shot when she and Neil Giraldo perform an acoustic show at 8 p.m. June 20 at Memorial Hall, 83 Court St., Plymouth. During their nearly four-decade career, they won four consecutive Grammy awards, as well as three American Music awards. Their rock ’n’ roll love affair has endured for 38 years and they continue to tour every year. Tickets are $59-$99 with VIP packages at $175-$325. Visit memorialhall.com/events or call 877-973-9613 for tickets.